Read or Die: Alternates!
by shanejayell
Summary: Part one, a crossover with Negima! Trouble comes and Yomiko and Co. are nowhere to be found! It's time to call in the Alternates....
1. The Alternates

Read or Die: the Alternates!

A Read or Die & Negima crossover!

"Mr. Joker I have terrible news," Wendy rushed into the office, the blonde haired woman barely avoiding tripping over a pile of books as she breathlessly reported, "we've lost contact with Yomiko and the others!"

"For how long?" Joker looked from what he was reading, his expression only mildly curious as the business suit clad man closed his book, slipping a bookmark in place.

"It's been nearly two hours since they were supposed to be on the plane home, sir," Wendy reported, her skirt and matching vest a bit wrinkled. She looked good in her buisiness clothes, true, but she always seemed out of breath and mildly late.

Joker nodded gravely, "Since we don't know if there is a crisis we'll have to give them some more time." He rose suddenly, startling Wendy as he declared, "But as a precaution we'll activate Library special missions team two!"

"Eep!" Wendy fell on her bottom in surprise, the files she had been carrying fluttering down around her. "You mean the alternates?"

"Precisely," Joker nodded.

"But.. aren't they a little green for field ops?" Wendy asked him tentatively as she tried to collect her documents.

"There's no better time for them to become less green," Joker smiled at her then airily said, "see to it, Wendy."

"Yes sir," Wendy hurried out only to trip in a cloud of papers and folders.

Meanwhile, in the depths of the headquarters of the Great British Library a young woman typed away intently, her light purple hair flowing in waves down her face. Her expression was oddly emotionless as she typed, eyes scanning the document as she quickly worked, her all black clothes giving her an oddly gothic look.

"Yue, I found the books that you were looking for," the shorter haired woman said as she rushed into the cubicle with a armful of tomes, her woman's suit a bit dusty, "and they had the tomato milk you wanted too."

"Thanks, Nodoka," Yue Ayase said, her voice softening even if her face didn't, "you've been a great help in this."

"I'm an archivist," Nodoka Miyazaki said cheerfully, "I'm glad to help find the materials we needed." She pushed her darker bangs away from her eyes, "How is it going?"

"The compendium you, I and Haruna are developing for Library Island at Mahora is nearly finished," Yue said gravely. "Once it's incorperated into the Great British Library's database researchers should have a much easier time."

"Uhm, excuse me?" Wendy stuch her head into the small room, mildly astounded at the piles of books and documents, the clutter nearly rivaling Joker's office.

Quite deliberately Yue saved her work, having had some experience with Wendy's legendary clumsiness. "Good afternoon," she nodded to her respectfully.

"He.. hello," Nodoka bowed, her nervous stutter cropping up around a relative stranger.

"I'm sorry to bother you," Wendy took one step inside, her toe jabbed a loaded table and she, the table and the mountain of books all went over in a loud crash.

"Are you all right?" Nodoka raced over to pull books off of the stunned blonde, checking the books over carefully as well as seeing if Wendy was all right.

"Oweee," Wendy rubbed a bruise on her head. She looked at Yue and tried to take on a businesslike attittude, "I'm..."

"You're here to activate us as the Special Missions Team two," Yue said calmly as she tidied up her desk and folded up her laptop.

"How did you know?" Wendy blurted out as she got up, tyding her clothes again and trying to brush off the dust.

Yue put her computer in a backpack as Nodoka looked on in awe. "There's no other reason that the executive assistant of Mr. Joker would be down here," she said, "other than a important manner." She looked up at Wendy, "What's the situation?"

"The Special mission's team has been out of contact for," Wendy checked her watch, "two hours and ten minutes, and we're getting concerned."

"Are they in trouble?' Nodoka asked anxiously.

"We have no communications at all," Wendy said, "we just don't know."

"So the mission profile is to track down and make contact with Yomiko, Nancy and Drake," Yue noted coolly as she slung her backpack in place, "determine if they're in trouble then rescue them or reestablish communications as needed."

"That would be correct," Wendy nodded.

As Yue hefted her backpack over her shoulder she calmly said, "In addition to Nodoka and myself I'd like to activate another agent."

Wendy nodded again as she backed out of the room, "Of course."

Yue flipped her cellphone open, the device looking like a phone dating back nearly a century. As Wendy bumped another table and fell with a crash she dialed, watching Nodoka rush to recover the books, not to mention help Wendy up.

In the lush forest of another part of Japan a figure stopped as she bounded between the trees, feeling the silent vibration of the phone in her pocket. Pulling out a more conventional phone the brown haired woman perched on a branch, her long brown hair flowing in a ponytail down her back. "Yes?" she asked pleasantly, her eyes oddly half closed, almost as if she was squinting at something off in the distance.

"It's me, Kaede," Yue answered promptly, "we need you for a job."

Kaede Nagase smiled cheerfully, "Of course Yue-dono."

A surprisingly short amount of time later Yue and Nodoka were racing to where a private jet waited to go, Kaede standing beside the hatch calmly. "Hello Kaede," Nodoka looked up shyly at the nearly six foot tall woman, she topping out near five and Yue only around four and a half feet tall.

"Welcome aboard," Kaede smiled as she waved them to their seats.

"Ready to go?" Yue asked briskly as she belted in by the window seat.

"The plane will take us to Cairo," Kaede said as she sat by Yue, Nodoka taking a seat in front of her, "we'll have a car waiting there."

"Egypt, wow," Nodoka murmured, shaking her head.

The trip was fast, the jet soaring from a private airfield in Japan to the north west. They landed in the afternoon, all aware of time passing by, then picked up the car waiting for them there. Kaede took the wheel with long practice, "Where to, Yue-dono?"

Quietly Nodoka offered, "Do we know if they acquired the book from Cairo Museum?"

"We'd best check," Yue agreed, "let's go to the museum first."

The trip to the museum was something of a bust, though they did confirm that the manuscript had been picked up by Yomiko and Nancy on schedule. After bodily pulling Nodoka out of the library there they returned to the city itself, soon tracking down the hotel that Nancy and Yomiko had been booked by the Library.

The hotel boasted a five star rating, and it was clearly well deserved. The outside glowed white, shining in the blazing sun while within was beautifully decorated. The style was fake Egyptian, inspired by movies more than reality, with fine cloth draped from collums and statues of animalistic gods at the corners of the grand entry room.

"The man at the counter was open to a bribe," Kaede said with some satisfaction after she strode across the polished floor to their side, "he's confirmed that while Drake Anderson checked out, Yomiko and Nancy are still here."

Nodoka's eyes were wide, "Oh no! They must have returned here with the book only to be ambushed! They're probably..."

"Easy, Nodoka," Yue put her hand on her friend's arm. She looked at her two companions, "The best thing to do is simply go up and check."

Kaede haven gotten the room number when she bribed the manager they headed up, walking down the hall to a door with a 'Do not disturb' sign hung on it. Kaede gently tried the door handle, quickly discovering it was locked.

"Do you want me to break it down?" Kaede asked, taking on a fighting pose.

"Let's find out what's going on inside first," Yue said, rummaging around inside her bag.

"Did you bring a listening device from the Library?" Nodoka asked excitedly.

"Something like that," Yue removed a standard water glass, put the open end against the wall and her ear against the bottom.

Both Nodoka and Kaede faceplaned. "I wasn't expecting that," Kaede muttered.

Yue listened for a moment, her face as blank as usual. Oddly a blush began to color her cheeks, brightening as she pulled away from the wall and briskly put the glass away. "What's going on?" Nodoka finally had to ask.

"I'd say they're fine," Yue said briskly, "though I suspect they've lost track of time. We'll go downstairs and use the hotel phone to call their suite."

"Why not just knock?" Nodoka blinked, moving towards the door.

Yue quickly moved to stop her, "Trust me, you do not want to do that."

Kaede's eyes widened as she added up Yue's blush with her distracted comment. "Are they doing what I think they're doing?" she smirked.

"Huh, huh?" Nodoka looked confused.

"I think so," Yue confirmed then pulled Nodoka close to whisper in her ear exactly what she thought Yomiko and Nancy were doing. "We'll phone an avoid distracting them," she said firmly, "unless you want to go in there?"

"Oh no," the fiercely blushing Nodoka said.

"Are you going to tell Joker about this?" Kaede asked as they got into the elevator.

"No, I don't think so," Yue shook her head, "we'll just tell him they got.. distracted."

"Dwah dwah dwah," Nodoka shook her head, trying to dispel the lewd images Yue's little talk had put in her mind.

"We'd better find her a paperback when we get downstairs," Yue noted as they descended, "that always calms her down."

End

Notes: I had originally planned to have several book oriented characters from different anime in this group, but I couldn't come up with enough characters from other series. The characters are mostly as shown in the manga and anime, tho I've made Nodoka a bit more book obsessed tha normal.


	2. Endings and Beginnings

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Read or Die or ROD the TV, I'm just borrowing them for a bit. This also has spoilers for the end of ROD the TV.

Read Or Die: Endings and Beginnings

Wendy Earhart sat back in her bunk at the woman's prison, her short blonde hair falling down over closed blue eyes. The orange prison wear didn't suit the slim young woman, but somehow she retained a certain degree of dignity as she read a book. Friends dropped off such care packages every few weeks, but she rarely saw the women themselves... she couldn't bring herself to face them.

One of the guards strode along the cells, her baton swinging as she called, "Visiting hours, if you're expecting someone get ready." She stopped in front of Wendy's cell and peered in, "Earhart, on your feet. You've got company."

"Thank you, Officer Williamson," Wendy answered as she calmly marked her page and rose, the slim young woman taking a moment to brush off her clothes. "If it's Yomiko, I won't see her," she noted in a polite yet steely tone.

"No, it's a guy this time," Williamson said, the taller woman looking strangely nervous. "Please, come with me," she commanded, careful not to lay a hand on Wendy.

As Wendy followed she smiled to herself slightly, well aware of the reputation that she had developed here in prison. When she had first arrived here several inmates had seen her as easy pickings, but she had quickly shown them the error of their ways. Breaking the arm of her first attacker was originally written off as a fluke, but her defeat of two more attackers soon guaranteed her safety.

"No strip search?" Wendy asked with wry amusement as she was taken to the meeting room. Modeled after American facilities it had booths seperated by bullet proof glass, designed to allow safe communication between convict and guest.

"We both know you don't need a knife to do damage," Williamson noted as she held the door open, "even if you're our best behaved convict."

"Thank you," Wendy nodded as she stepped into the room and the door shut with a click behind her. She calmly walked over to the class then her eyes widened slightly before she sat down. "Mr Prime Minister," she said respectfully, "it's a honor."

The older man's dark brown hair fell into his eyes as he studied Wendy a moment, his expression unreadable. "Tell me about what happened with Joker," he said flatly.

Wendy raised her eyebrows slightly, "It's all in my confession."

"Refresh my memory," the second most powerful man in England said.

"As you wish sir," Wendy nodded respectfully. She collected her thoughts, "I have served the Library under Mr. Joker for years, and when he was incapacitated after the battle with the Paper Masters I escaped with him to save his life. Under my care he slowly recovered, eventually regaining his faculties."

"And then..." he prodded as Wendy fell silent.

"Joker, without my knowledge, began to prepare a assassination plot to be deployed against the Paper Sisters and their associates," Wendy revealed flatly. "It was cruel, brutal and ruthless, in other words pure Joker."

The PM chuckled, quickly muffling it.

"When I found out I tried to find out why he was doing it," Wendy mused, "what larger purpose it would serve. He looked at me blankly and simply told me that the enemies of the Library must be destroyed."

"I see," the PM murmured.

Wendy smiled at him a little, "No sir, you don't. For all his faults Joker was a man of vision, a dreamer who sought to build a better world." She sighed, "Whatever Junior did to him in that final battle killed that, leaving only a shell of that noble man behind."

"So you killed him," the PM said gravely.

"After making every attempt to talk him out of his plans," Wendy agreed mournfully. "I shot him, contacted the authorities then surrendered myself." She kept any quaver from her voice, but it was hard. She had once loved Joker with all her heart and soul, and losing him still left a lingering pain inside...

The PM nodded, "Which brings us to now. Why didn't you simply go underground?"

Wendy gave him a thoughtful look. "If I remained free, the focus of the investigations by governments would have been on relatively innocent library staff," she shrugged, "we had a responsibility to spare them that."

He rose then, the PM pacing the small booth he was in, his simple off grey suit making soft sounds as he moved. "Listening to you," he admitted after a moment, "I can understand why you were recruited for special operations."

"Sir," Wendy nodded respectfully.

He turned to face her again, "Which is why I want to make you the head of Special Operations with the new Library."

Wendy looked surprised for the first time in the meeting as she blurted, "What?!"

The PM smiled, seemingly glad he broke her poker-face. "With the ongoing threat of both Russian and American libraries," he gravely explained, "we need a Library to carry out operations against them."

"Sir, I am a convicted murderess," Wendy said, "it's impossible."

"Not impossible, merely difficult," the PM answered, "or I wouldn't be here now." He smiled, "We need you, Wendy Earhart."

"If I take the job," Wendy cautiously said after a moment's thought, "there need to be checks and balances in place. The head of operations can do too much harm without someone keeping an eye on them."

"Actually, we have a candidate in mind as a civilian watchdog," he admitted.

"Oh?" Wendy asked.

He smiled impishly, "Nenene Sumerigawa."

Wendy shook her head, smiling slightly. "She'd be harder to recruit than I am," she calmly predicted.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Welcome to the new headquarters of the Library," Nenene Sumerigawa offered her hand, the brown haired younger woman keeping her expression carefully neutral.

"Thank you," Wendy shook it, still slightly shell shocked at how quickly her pardon and release had been arranged. Less than a month ago she had agreed to return to government service and now here she was in a fine woman's suit and in the office of a woman who probably hated her guts. "I really didn't expect you to agree to this," Wendy noted.

Nenene leaned up against her desk, "This organization has directly or indirectly impacted on my life for years." A slight smile, "You really can't blame me for wanting to keep an eye on it." The smile dropped away from her face, "Not to mention all the times it's hurt my friends."

Wendy nodded, "I understand." She took a deep breath, "In fact, I'm counting on you to keep an eye on me."

"Oh?" Nenene looked curious.

"I have too much of a tendency to let my ends justify the means," Wendy conceded, "I need someone here who can act as my conscience."

"I'll do that," Nenene nodded, "around my novel writing anyway."

"You agreed to this so you'd have a office away from the Paper Sisters, didn't you?" Wendy teased a bit nervously.

"I'll never tell," Nenene shot back. She gestured to the door, "Are you ready to meet your agents?"

Wendy stood up straight and tugged her suit down, "Ready as I'll ever be."

End

Notes: Sort of a set up for a AU. Not sure if it'll be continued, tho I do like the idea of Wendy running the Library Special Operations team.


End file.
